A protester shouting “No to political repression" and "Art is not a crime” disrupted the Minsk trial of three graffiti artists who are charged with property damage and hooliganism after painting political slogans on buildings.

Speaking to pro-Kremlin activists in the southern city of Stavropol on January 25, Russian President Vladimir Putin again accused Soviet founder Vladimir Lenin of setting off the time bomb that blew the Soviet Union apart.

The president of Russia’s Jewish Congress Yuri Kanner told RFE/RL that anti-semitism in Russia has dramatically decreased, and that Russia should prosecute those who deny crimes under Stalin, not the Holocaust. (In Russian)

In a “most-read” interview on RFE/RL’s Russian Service website, prominent Russian TV news anchor Mikhail Osokin, most recently with Ren-TV and fired from Russia’s independent NTV channel several years ago, discussed demands on journalists in Russia and said that they and authorities should be subject to lustration. (In Russian)